lyrics he paid too much for the green day tickets, but it was worth it. now they’re tucked inside the gift-wrapped book of gary larson cartoons. it took him a week of horse-trading to convince his ex to let james spend his birthday away from her.
Category Archives: monday song
monday song #45: the 10 o’clock news
lyrics charlotte woke up crying. her father sits at the end of the couch. his voice is soft, his breath is sweet. the party is quieting down, but there are still adults talking downstairs. charlotte is seven. she dreamt that the house was on fire.
monday song #44: in love
lyrics across the street. the luchesi’s.
monday song #43: i’m in love with everyone
lyrics cheever street, late afternoon. a muffled roar pulses from a garage near the end of the block. from outside the clamor is hard to recognize, but the roar demands attention. more than one neighbor watches their clock for the agreed upon curfew of six pm to arrive, when they can call to complain. why […]
monday song #42: punk
lyrics james lives on fenton street down the block from the empty lot that once held the 7-11. a firehouse is going up slowly. he’s a teenager, but you’d only know it from the library books in his backpack: salinger, the autobiography of malcolm x, arthur c clarke. his looks would place him in elementary […]
monday song #41: gravity
lyrics darkness attracts light. the contrast can be thrilling. but it’s always and forever darkness. and over time, the light gets tired of doing all the work.
monday song #40: lost and found
lyrics a couple sits on opposite sides of a dinner table, food mostly gone. muted explosions and a pumping soundtrack pulse from the basement. no one speaks. they’ve been together for many years, each shaped by lifelong contact with the other, a complex jigsaw of additions and subtractions. the cracks are becoming evident, but neither […]
monday song #39: the i inside the hurricane
lyrics twilight, late summer. an almost sixth grader living in a small house out past dearborn.
monday song #38: pr(ol)og(ue) in heaven
lyrics a beginning. the spark before the flame. the inhale before the exhale. a moment’s peace, balanced on the edge of the unknown, and then tumbling forward, falling, plummeting down, eyes tight closed but catching glimpses all the same, flashes of recognition, but they’re gone too fast, like a torch thrown down a well, lighting […]
monday song #37: brooklyn
lyrics this is the first straight love song i’ve written in a long while. i usually steer clear, but i just finished a wonderful book called “brooklyn” by the irish novelist colm toibin, and it apparently left me with a romantic longing that i needed to work out. monday songs to the rescue.